By: Russ Kamp, Managing Director, Ryan ALM, Inc.

We are pleased to share with you an update on the PBGC’s implementation of the ARPA legislation. During the prior week, two more pension plans were permitted to submit applications from the “waiting list”. Teamsters Union Local No. 73 Pension Plan and the Pacific Coast Shipyards Pension Plan are seeking a combined $27.3 million for their 1,036 participants. The PBGC has 120 days from submission to act on the application.

In addition, two plans, Laborers’ International Union of North America Local Union No. 1822 Pension Fund and the UFCW Regional Pension Fund, withdrew their applications. Both of these plans had submitted applications from the wait list, as neither plan was a member of a Priority Group (1-6).

There were no applications approved or denied during the previous week and no multiemployer plans asked to be on the wait list, which continues to have 110 names of which 12 have been invited to file for SFA.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us to discuss the appropriateness of using cash flow matching (CFM) for your plan’s SFA proceeds. As a reminder, the SFA assets must be kept separate from the fund’s legacy assets. This new bucket is a sinking fund that should have as its primary objective the securing of benefits and expenses as far into the future as possible.